CIDA is funding a homophobic Christian group to do work in Uganda – you know, a country that Harper and Baird have called out for their government-sponsored anti-gay legislation, and one of the reasons why Uganda is no longer part of the Commonwealth? I have to wonder what John Baird thinks of this, considering how much he’s touted gay rights as part of Canada’s foreign policy – much to his credit. I can’t imagine he’ll be happy, but I also don’t imagine that anyone will take the blame except for the bureaucrats who “made the decision” when this gets brought up in QP today.
Senator Mike Duffy’s “neighbours” in PEI say that they never see him, and cast doubt on some of his other claims, like how much he’d allegedly spent in converting his cottage there into a year-round residence. Just to keep that particular story of residency requirements going (seeing as it could mean his removal from the job).
John Ivison touts the emergence of a “more muscular” Upper Chamber who don’t want to be seen as rubber stamps for the government. And while he’s right, he does miss the fact that this starts to happen once Senators have been in place for a few years and start to get a sense of their place in Parliament – and in this case, Harper’s initial batch is starting to reach that maturity. He also touts a more arm’s length appointment process, which is about the only reform proposal with much in the way of merit. Elsewhere, Liberal Senate Leader James Cowan talks about the danger of reform proposals being done piecemeal and without a view of the larger picture – for which he is absolutely right. Not that most would-be reformers engage much in the way of consequence-based thinking.
The Conservatives want the Ethics Commissioner to look into the fact that a construction union gave $10,000 to the Pat Martin Defence Fund.
The Information Commissioner says the government is now at an all-time low for timeliness of Access to Information requests. You know, the “most open and transparent government in Canadian history”? That government? Yeah. Slow clap.
More wacky tales from the focus groups that the Bank of Canada tested new banknote images with – apparently things nixed included gay weddings, RCMP officers in turbans, black kids playing hockey, hockey in general (too violent), ice wine (no alcohol on money), and snow (potential future controversy given global warming). Mind you, every time I hear tales of focus groups, I am immediately reminded of episode two of The Thick of It (which you should look up if you haven’t seen it already).
One of the most senior women in the RCMP has recently retired, and she remains concerned about the “old boys club” mentality that pervades the Force.
Colby Cosh crunches some numbers and comes up with some pretty interesting information on First Nations community wellbeing indexes across the different provinces, and comes up with some interesting conclusions regarding the effect of residential schools on those in the East, and the particular regional distinctions of those in the Prairies.
Michael Den Tandt says that the government is considering a full-fledged agency for military procurements, considering how pretty much every single one has been bungled in one way or another in recent years.
Alberta Premier Alison Redford held an economic summit over the weekend to get ideas for how to solve the province’s financial woes. Most of the solutions involved a sales tax – something Redford is loath to do.
And here are the three things you need to see and hear from the weekend political shows – and especially retired Senator Lowell Murray and Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber.